Mount Tyson

Mount Tyson is a rural village 40 km west of Toowoomba, about midway between Oakey and Pittsworth. It is on the former Oakey-to-Cecil Plains railway line (1915-94). The mountain is near the village, and was possibly named after James Tyson (1819-98). Tyson had pastoral interests in the Victorian Western District and in New South Wales, as well as the Beauaraba estate north of Pittsworth. He was a member of the Queensland Legislative Council, 1893-98.

The Beauaraba estate was resumed for closer-settlement in 1899 and Mount Tyson primary school opened in 1904. The village became the centre of a dairying and cheese-factory district: as well as a cheese factory in the village there were three others within 10 km at various times. The Mount Tyson Farmers Cooperative Dairy Factory began c1915.

In 1949 the post office directory recorded Mount Tyson as having the cheese factory, a State wheat grain shed, two stores, a blacksmith, a baker and Tyson Bros motor garage. The factory continued until 1980, and was later converted to a nougat and confectionery factory. Mount Tyson has a general store, Anglican and Catholic churches, a public hall and a recreation reserve. It has won several tidy-town awards. The primary school had an enrolment of 56 in 2013.

Mount Tyson's census populations have been:

Census Date

Population

1933

263

1961

346

2006

519

2011

385

Paul McNally, Mount Tyson State School: one hundred years of the best, 1904-2004, Mount Tyson State School Parents and Citizens Association, 2004